Firefighters on the scene of the blaze, which engulfed three buildings on Totowa Avneue in Paterson on Sunday, April 20, 2014.

It was Paterson’s first of two structure fires on Easter; the second was a two-alarm fire at an abandoned 2½ story house in the 900 block of East 24th Street. At both fires, two firefighters were brought to the hospital with injuries.

Firefighters on the scene of a fire at a Paterson home on East 24th Street Sunday.

On Totowa Avenue, three mixed-use buildings in the 300 block were engulfed. A Paterson battalion chief was on his way to the Union Avenue firehouse and discovered the fire, officials said. Firefighters were first dispatched to the scene at 9:37 a.m., Paterson Public Safety Director Glenn Brown said.

Fire companies were still fighting the blaze into the evening, fire officials said. Demolition of the buildings was just getting under way at 8:30 p.m., said Battalion Chief William Henderson. After the buildings are razed, firefighters should be able to access hot spots buried under collapsed roofs, Henderson said.

About 100 firefighters from Paterson and surrounding towns, including Hawthorne and Fair Lawn, battled the blaze with heavy smoke conditions at 372, 374 and 376 Totowa Ave. A shipping company, Embarque La Isabela, was located at 376 Totowa Ave., Totowa Liquors was at 374 Totowa Ave. and Magic Bubbles Laundromat and Dry Cleaning was at 372 Totowa Ave.

One resident was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, as well as two firefighters with minor injuries, according to fire officials. Eleven residents have been displaced, Brown said.

Flames could be seen in the rear of the multistory buildings on Sunday morning, which house retail on the lower level and apartments above. The fire appears to have started at the rear of one of the buildings, but fire officials haven't yet confirmed which building or the cause of the fire.

Edwin Donado, 45, and his family lived on the second floor of the middle building. He was at work Sunday morning, and his wife and daughter were sleeping. A neighbor knocked on the door to wake them up. They've lived there for three years and were waiting for Red Cross on Sunday morning. "After? I don't know," he said.

At 989 E. 24th St., a fire captain and a firefighter were brought to the hospital with back injuries, Henderson said.

The two-alarm fire was reported at 4:20 p.m., he said, and was under control around 6 p.m. There was heavy fire in the basement and first floor that rose up the wood frame house, eventually gutting it. Wind conditions forced firefighters out of the building temporarily, while others fought the blaze from atop a three-car garage next door.